Means for controlling the progression of myopia

ABSTRACT

A contact lens for use in controlling or retarding the progression of myopia in an eye has a central optical zone approximating the normal diameter of the pupil of the eye that gives clear central vision at distance for the wearer. An annular peripheral optical zone that is substantially outside the diameter of the pupil is formed around the central optical zone with greater refractive power than that of the central zone so that oblique rays entering the eye through the peripheral optical zone will be brought to focus at a focal plane that is substantially on or anterior to the peripheral region of the retina. Preferably, the rear surface of the lens is shaped to conform to the cornea of the eye and the front surface of the lens is shaped to provide—in conjunction with the rear surface—the desired optical properties of the central and peripheral optical zones. The front surface is also preferably contoured to form a smooth transition between the junction of the central optical zone and the peripheral optical zone, with or without designed optical properties such as progressive power.

CROSS-REFERENCE

This application claims benefit of priority from co-pending and commonlyassigned Australian provisional patent application No. 2006903112 filedJun. 8, 2006, the contents of which are incorporated herein by referencein its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to means, including methods and contactlenses, suitable for use in controlling or reducing the progression ofmyopia, particularly though not solely, in the young person.

More particularly, this invention concerns the use of multi-zone,non-multi-focal contact lenses in the treatment of myopia. It representsa novel and unobvious advance over commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No.7,025,460 by Smith et al., (hereafter “Smith”).

It is understood that a multi-zone contact lens is one where differentportions or areas of the lens have different optical properties orfunctions, most usually different refractive powers or aberrationcorrection functions. Multi-focal contact lenses are a sub-class ofmulti-zone contact lenses characterized by the fact that the centralportion of the lens, corresponding roughly to normal pupil diameter, hasat least two zones of different refractive power. Usually this is toprovide the wearer, simultaneously, with both distance and near visionand, possibly, with a transition zone providing transition power betweenthe distance and near vision powers. Thus a multi-zone, non-multi-focallens is one where the central portion of the lens does not includemulti-zones that provide multiple foci on the central retina.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Myopia or short-sightedness is a problem of the eye wherein objects at adistance are focused in front of the retina, causing blurred vision;that is, the focusing power of the eye is too great. Myopia is normallycorrected with the use of ophthalmic lenses of sufficient negative powerto bring distant objects back into focus on the central retina, whileallowing near objects to be focused on the central region of the retinaby accommodation of the lens of the eye. Myopia is commonly aprogressive disorder associated with gradual elongation of the eye sothat lenses of increasing negative power are needed over time. A numberof undesirable pathologies are associated with progressive myopia.

It is now generally accepted that elongation of the eye of a growinganimal is normally controlled by a feedback mechanism that enables axiallight rays entering the eye to be focused onto the central region of theretina. It is assumed that, with emmetropia, this mechanism works wellbut that, in myopia, the elongation is excessive while, in hyperopia, itis insufficient to allow good focus of the axial rays. Until the recentwork of Smith and others (discussed in part in the aforementioned U.S.Pat. No. 7,025,460, and incorporated by reference herein, as if made apart of the present application), it was commonly accepted that thestimulus controlling the feedback mechanism had to do with features ofthe central image formed in the eye. Smith has now convincingly shownthat the stimulus has little to do with the quality of the central imagebut is related to the curvature of field or peripheral refraction; thatis, the quality of the peripheral image. More particularly, Smithdemonstrated that a stimulus for increased eye length is created whenthe peripheral focal plane lies behind (is posterior to) the retina andthat this condition may persist despite excessive and continuing growthof the eye from the standpoint of optimal central vision. Smiththerefore proposed the use of corrective eye lenses for myopia thatshift the focal plane in front of (anterior to) the peripheral retina.However, the lenses, especially contact lenses, suggested by Smith aredifficult to design and manufacture, and may introduce noticeable visualdistortion in peripheral vision.

Prior to the teachings of Smith, a variety of multi-focal contact lenseshad been proposed on the common assumption that aspects of the eye'scentral image provide the stimulus for abnormal eye growth in myopia.Though such prior art is not of direct relevance to the presentinvention, those items considered to be of most interest are reviewedbelow.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,752,499 to Aller teaches prescribing commerciallyavailable bifocal contact lenses for young myopic patients who alsoexhibit near-point esophoria in the hope of controlling the progressionof myopia. The preferred lenses were those with concentric near anddistance zones within the normal pupil diameter of the patient. Suchbifocal contact lenses had been designed and prescribed for thecorrection of presbyopia in older eyes. However, Aller proposed thatthey should be prescribed for the selected myopic patients to provideadditional refractive power (myopic defocus) at both near and distance.Obviously these lenses have the inherent disadvantage that at least oneout of focus axial image is present on the central retina at all times,degrading image quality for both distance and near gaze. Moreover, whenthe wearer is viewing a near object and the eye is making use of thenear zone of the lens, the distance zone not only creates an unwantedand out-of-focus image of the object but, more significantly, portion ofthis out-of-focus image is likely to be present posterior to theperipheral region of the retina and, according to the teaching of Smith,to thereby provide a stimulus for myopia progression.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,045,578 to Collins et al. (Collins) teaches the additionof positive spherical aberration at the central retina in the hope ofproviding a stimulus that will reduce or control the progression ofmyopia on the basis that some positive spherical aberration is normallyfound in the emmetropic adult eye. This principle is applied to avariety of eye lenses including contact lenses. However, the deliberateintroduction of spherical aberration into the central image degradesthat image and visual acuity. Collins gives no attention to the natureof the image in the peripheral region of the retina where, as taught bySmith, the essential stimulus for eye growth is provided. Significanttrial results using Collins-type lenses with deliberately introducedspherical aberration in the central image for the control of theprogression of myopia have not been reported to the applicant'sknowledge.

International Patent Application No. WO200604440A2 by Phillips et al.(Phillips) discloses the use of bifocal contact lenses in which there is(i) a vision correction area for correcting the myopic central vision ofa wearer and (ii) a myopic defocus area which simultaneously presents amyopic defocused in the wearer's central vision at both near anddistance gaze. Since (as is characteristic of multi-focal lenses) bothareas of the lens fall within the normal pupil diameter of the patient,the same basic problem of degraded central image is also present here.Similar problems are evident with the teachings of US Patent ApplicationNo. 2006/0082729 by To, which discloses the use of multi-focal Fresnelcontact lenses that provide myopic defocus in central vision, but theyare exacerbated by the fact that Fresnel lenses degrade image qualityrelative to refractive lenses.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a multi-zone contact lens for inhibitingthe progression of myopia in an eye, a method of forming such a lens,and a method of inhibiting the progression of myopia in an eye by theuse of such a lens. The lens basically has a central optical zone thatapproximates in size the normal pupil diameter of the eye and that has arefractive power selected or adapted to give the eye clear distancevision, and a peripheral optical zone that substantially falls outsidethe normal pupil diameter of the eye and that has a refractive powersufficient to focus oblique peripheral rays entering the patient's eyethrough the peripheral zone onto a focal plane located on or in front ofthe peripheral region of the retina. While such peripheral focusprovides the stimulus for reducing elongation of the eye in accordancewith the teachings of Smith, two-zone lenses of this type—especiallywhere the peripheral zone is annular and surrounds the central zone—aremuch more readily and cheaply made than the lenses disclosed in theSmith patent and can potentially introduce less aberrations such asdistortion to the peripheral image.

Since axial rays from both distant and near objects essentially passonly through the single-power central zone of the lens, not through morethan one focal zone as with conventional bifocal contact lenses, givennormal accommodation for near gaze, both distance and near images willbe clear. The multi-zone contact lens of the invention is therefore nota bifocal contact lens where the two focal zones overlie the pupil sothat both intercept axial rays from every object, whether near ordistant. As noted above such bifocal lenses are proposed for myopiatreatment by the prior art.

As progressive myopia commonly afflicts children and young adults, thediameter of the central optical zone will usually be greater than about3 mm and not more than 1 mm less than the normal pupil diameter of theeye. Due to the existence of what is known to vision scientists as theStiles-Crawford effect, light rays that pass close to the edge (alsocalled “marginal rays”) of the pupil of the eye on their way through tothe retina, has less visual significance than those rays that travelnearer the centre of the pupil. Thus, the central optical zone need notbe precisely greater than the normal pupil diameter of the eye.

On the other hand, it is preferred that the maximum diameter of thecentral zone should not be more than 1 mm greater than the normal pupildiameter. Where an annular peripheral optical zone is employed, theinner diameter preferably approximates the outer diameter of the centralzone and the outer diameter will normally be less than 8 mm. The totaldiameter of the contact lens will typically lie between 13-15 mm, theadditional area being formed by a skirt-like ring or carrier portionthat serves to assist in locating and retaining the lens in position onthe eye.

As is common with contact lenses, the rear surface is shaped to conformto the shape of the cornea of the patient and the front surface iscontoured to create—together with the shape of the rear surface—thedesired optical zones with their respective refractive powers. However,with the contact lenses herein envisaged, the difference in refractivepower between the central zone and the peripheral optical zone can be asgreat as 8 Diopters and the discontinuity in shape of the front lenssurface at the junction of the central and peripheral zones can besignificant. Accordingly, it may be desirable to shape the front of thelens at this junction to form a transition zone which smooths thetransition between the shapes of the different zones and/or whichprovides progressive increase in refractive power in a narrow bandbetween the zones. The purpose of the transition zone, however, is toboth smooth the external surface of the lens and to reduce opticalartifacts and distortions that may be introduced by a sudden change inrefractive power over a short distance. Simply blending or filleting thecurves is often sufficient even though it may provide a narrow ring withindeterminate refractive properties.

While it would be ideal for the lenses of the invention to betailor-made for each eye, it will be generally more practical andeconomic for the lenses to be mass-produced based upon estimates of therange of normal pupil size (and eye shape) in the population ofinterest. In practice, therefore some tolerance on the match betweennormal pupil size for a given patient and the size of the central zoneof the lens may be necessary in practice.

More specifically, embodiments of the present invention are directed toa contact lens comprising a central optical zone having a dimensionsubstantially approximating the normal diameter of the pupil of an eyewhen the lens is worn by a wearer on said eye, said central optical zonehaving a central zone refractive power adapted to provide the wearerwith clear distance vision in a central region of the retina of the eye,and a peripheral optical zone disposed radially outward from saidcentral zone, said peripheral optical zone lying substantially outsidethe normal diameter of the pupil of the eye when the lens is worn by thewearer, said peripheral optical zone having a peripheral optical zonerefractive power that is greater than said central optical zonerefractive power by an amount sufficient to focus off-axis rays thatenter the eye through said peripheral optical zone when the lens is wornonto points on or anterior to a peripheral region of the retina locatedaround said central region of the retina.

According to further embodiments of the present invention, the contactlens of the present invention have central optical zone and peripheraloptical zone having differently curved adjoining front surfaces, and atransition zone formed between said adjoining front surfaces, saidtransition zone shaped to smoothly blend said adjoining differentlycurved front surfaces of said central optical zone and said peripheraloptical zone. The transition zone preferably further provides agradation of refractive power between the refractive power of thecentral optical zone and the refractive power of the peripheral opticalzone.

Still further, according to embodiments of the present invention, thepresent invention is directed to a contact lens for use in reducing theprogression of myopia in an eye of a wearer comprising a transparentmaterial having front and rear surfaces, wherein the rear surfaceprovides a base-curve adapted to fit the eye; and wherein the frontsurface comprises; a central optical zone curved so that, together withthe base-curve, said central optical zone produces a central opticalzone refractive power adapted to provide the wearer with clear distancevision in a central region of the retina of the eye, the central opticalzone being substantially circular in shape of at least 3 mm in diameterbut not more than 1 mm less than the normal diameter of the pupil of theeye; and an annular peripheral optical zone surrounding said centralzone and curved so that, together with the base-curve, said peripheralzone is adapted to produce a peripheral optical zone refractive power,when the lens is worn, that is greater than said central optical zonerefractive power by an amount greater than 1 Diopter and sufficient tofocus off-axis rays that enter the eye through said peripheral zone ontoa focal plane that is substantially on, or anterior to, the retina in aperipheral region of the retina located around said central region.

Still further, embodiments of the present invention are directed to amethod for forming a contact lens for reducing the progression of myopiain an eye of a wearer, comprising forming on a transparent material arear surface comprising a base-curve that is adapted to fit an eye of awearer of the lens; and forming on the transparent material, a frontsurface spaced from said rear surface. The front surface comprises acentral optical zone, the dimensions of said central optical zone areselected so the minimum dimension of said central optical zonesubstantially approximates the normal diameter of the pupil of the eyeand that is curved so that, together with the base-curve, said centraloptical zone generates a central zone refractive power that provides thewearer with clear distance vision in a central region of the retina ofthe eye, and a peripheral optical zone that surrounds said centraloptical zone and lies substantially outside the normal diameter of thepupil of the eye, said peripheral optical zone is curved so that,together with the base-curve, said peripheral optical zone generates aperipheral optical zone refractive power that is greater than saidcentral optical zone refractive power by an amount sufficient to focusperipheral rays entering the eye through the peripheral optical zoneonto a focal plane that lies on or anterior to a peripheral region ofthe retina of the eye, when the lens is worn on the eye.

In addition, embodiments of the present invention is directed to methodsof inhibiting the progression of myopia in an eye, the method comprisingthe steps of providing a multi-zone contact lens for the eye which has acentral optical zone with a central optical zone refractive power and aperipheral optical zone with a peripheral optical zone refractive powerdisposed radially from said central optical zone, selecting said centralzone refractive power to provide clear central vision to the eye, andselecting a peripheral optical zone refractive power that is greaterthan the central optical zone refractive power, the peripheral opticalzone refractive power being selected to ensure that off-axis raysentering the eye through said peripheral optical zone are brought tofocus at points on or anterior to the peripheral retina of the eye, andselecting the size of the central optical zone to be greater thanapproximately the normal pupil diameter.

Having provided an outline of the invention, examples will now bedescribed with reference to the accompanying drawings. It will beappreciated, however, that many variations to the chosen examples andmany other examples of the application of the invention are possiblewithout departing from the scope of the invention set out in thefollowing claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a front elevation of a first example of a multi-zone contactlens formed in accordance with the teaching of the present invention,the plane of the lens being assumed to be vertical, as if it is beingworn.

FIG. 1B is a sectional plan view of the contact lens of FIG. 1A hatchedto indicate functionally different zones of the lens, rather thanphysically different portions.

FIG. 2A is a front elevation of a contact lens comprising the secondexample of multi-zone contact lens formed in accordance with thisinvention.

FIG. 2B is a sectional plan view of the lens of FIG. 2A hatched toindicate functionally different zones of the lens, rather thanphysically different portions.

FIG. 3 is a graph of relative optical power with respect to lensdiameter for the optical zones of the contact lens of the first exampleshown in FIGS. 1A and 1B.

FIG. 4 is a graph of relative optical power with respect to lensdiameter for the optical zones of the contact lens of the second exampleshown in FIGS. 2A and 2B.

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic sectional elevation of a human eye fitted withthe multi-zone contact lens of the first example (FIGS. 1A and 1B)showing the focal plane for the central and peripheral retina generatedby the zones of the lens.

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic sectional elevation of a human eye fitted withthe multi-zone contact lens of the second example (FIGS. 2A and 2B)showing the focal plane for the central and peripheral retina generatedby the zones of the lens of the second example.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The first example of a contact lens (generally indicated at 10) formedin accordance with one embodiment of the present invention will now bedescribed making reference to the lens drawings of FIGS. 1A and 1B, therefractive power diagram of FIG. 3 and the sectional eye diagram of FIG.5 that shows lens 10 in place on the cornea 12 of a myopic human eye 14.As is conventional, lens 10 is molded from a homogeneous transparentplastic material with a selected refractive index, so as to have a rearcurved surface 16 that is matched to the shape of cornea 12 of eye 14and a front curved surface 18. In this case, however, front surface 18is shaped so that, in combination with the shape of rear surface 16, twooptical zones are provided; namely, (i) a central circular optical zone20 that is substantially equal to, or, in other words, substantiallyapproximates the diameter of a normal pupil (indicated at 22 in FIGS. 1Band 5) of eye 14, and (ii) an annular peripheral optical zone 24surrounding central zone 20 that lies substantially outside the normaldiameter of the pupil 22. In addition, front and rear surfaces 18 and 16are shaped to form a tapering annular carrier portion 26 terminating ina thin edge 28, carrier portion 26 being designed to assist in retaininglens 10 centrally on eye 14 during use, rather than for its opticalproperties. The design and use of such peripheral carrier portions incontact lenses is well known in the art. Finally, front surface 18 isshaped to provide a smooth transition zone 30 between optical zones 20and 24 that, in this example, does not perform an optical function butmerely blends the adjoining edges of optical zones 20 and 24 for usercomfort. The width of ring-like transition zone 30 is exaggerated forthe sake of illustration in FIGS. 1A and 1B. Again, it is to be notedthat the different hatching patterns in the section drawing of FIG. 1Bare intended to show regions of lens 10 that perform different functionsand not to suggest that these zones are formed by different physicalmaterials. For purposes of this application, it is understood that theterms central zone and central optical zones are used interchangeably.Similarly, the terms peripheral optical zone and peripheral zone areused interchangeably as would be readily understood by one skilled inthe field of lens design and manufacturing.

In central optical zone 20, the combined shape of front and rearsurfaces 18 and 16 of lens 10 provides the refractive power needed tomatch the refractive status at distance for myopic eye 14 and thediameter of central zone 20 is substantially matched to the normal pupilsize so that a single clear distance image is formed on the centralregion 32 of the retina 34 (FIG. 5). However, it will be appreciatedthat precise matching of central optical zone 20 to normal pupil sizemay not be practicable or desirable for a number of reasons. First,measurement of normal pupil size may vary somewhat between practitionersand instruments and actual pupil size will normally vary in accordancewith environmental lighting. Second, the demands of volume lensproduction may mean that only a few standardized central zone diametersare offered; these being based on the average pupil sizes for the humanpopulation concerned, such as, for example, in this case, young people.Third, if upon examination, it is found that there is a significantdifference between or displacement of the visual and optic axes in thesubject eye, it may be preferable to select a central optical zone 20that is slightly larger than pupil diameter 22, to ensure optimumcentral vision. Fourth, it may also be desirable to select a largercentral zone to allow a wider field of view to suit certain vocationalrequirements. For example, an athlete, or otherwise active person mayprefer a wider distance zone to reduce image disturbance. Of course, asis common in the art, the prescription can be further adjusted to suitthe individual eye by specifying toric shaping on the front and/or rearsurface of the lens to correct astigmatism. And fifth, it is known thatdue to the presence of the Stiles-Crawford effect, light rays that passclose to the edge (also called “marginal rays”) of the pupil of the eyeon their way through to the retina, is of less visual significance thanthose rays that travel nearer the centre of the pupil. Thus, withrespect to vision, the marginal portion within the pupil is not of asgreat an importance as the more central portion of the pupil.

It will be appreciated that the central optical zone of this inventionneed not be circular in shape. Depending on the individual for whom thelens will be prescribed, there are advantages in selecting anon-circular shape for the central optical zone. Examples for when thismay be particularly advantageous include (but are not limited to) caseswhen the lens does not lie concentric with the pupil of the eye, whichmay be caused by an eccentrically positioned pupil, or when the lensdoes not position itself centrally on the cornea, which may be due toasymmetry in the geometry of the cornea or eye-lid influences on thelens. Other examples of when a non-circular shape would be beneficialfor the central optical zone include cases when the individual mayprefer a horizontally wider field of clear vision (e.g. for driving).Non-circular shapes may be of any geometrical description includingellipses or ‘pear-shaped’. In such non-circular central optical zonedesigns, a key geometrical parameter is the minimum dimension of thenon-circular shape (e.g. for an ellipse, it is the narrower ‘width’,i.e. the length of the minor-axis of the ellipse) to ensure correctsizing of the central zone relative to the normal pupil diameter. Forsimilar reasons, the shape and size of the surrounding peripheral zonealso need not be circular. For purposes of this application, it will beunderstood that the term “dimension” refers to size and shape, as wouldbe readily understood by one skilled in the field of lens design.

In any event, it is generally desirable, in accordance with embodimentsof the present invention, for the central zone 20 to lie substantially,if not entirely within, the normal pupil diameter and for the peripheralzone 24 to lie substantially, if not entirely outside, the normal pupildiameter, when viewed directly from the front. It will be appreciatedthat such an orientation in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention, is in direct contradistinction with the disclosures of theprior art mentioned above. It might also be noted that this desirablearrangement will normally be facilitated by the interposition oftransition zone 30 between central zone 20 and peripheral zone 24, sincethe transition zone effectively enlarges the inner diameter of theperipheral zone.

The optical properties of lens 10 of the first example are furtherillustrated by FIG. 3 and its effect on eye 12 is indicated in FIG. 5.In FIG. 3, the relative refractive power of lens 10 is plotted againstlens diameter with the distance power of central zone 20 arbitrarily setat zero. Thus, in this example, the diameter of central zone 20 (whichis the normal pupil diameter 22 of eye 12) is 3.5 mm, and the inner andouter diameters of the peripheral zone are 4.5 mm and 8 mm,respectively, making the width of the transition zone 30 about 0.5 mm.It will be seen that the refractive power of central zone 20 issubstantially uniform, there is a sharp increase in refractive power of1.5 D over transition zone 30 and that, in contrast to the teachings ofSmith, the refractive power of peripheral zone 24 remains substantiallyconstant across its diameter. The sharp increase in refractive powerwithin transition zone 30 is notionally indicated by sloping brokenlines 40 because, in this example, power within this narrow zone willnot normally be precisely controllable. As previously indicated, frontsurface 18 of lens 10 in transition zone 30 is not shaped to provide agraded or progressive power transition, but merely to blend or smooththe discontinuity at the junction of the different profiles of opticalzones 20 and 24.

As will be seen from FIG. 5, the step increase of 1.5 D in peripheralzone 24 is chosen because it is sufficient (for subject eye 14) to shiftthe focal plane 42 in the peripheral region 44 of retina 34 anterior tothe peripheral retina 44 in order to provide the stimulus needed toinhibit eye elongation and myopia progression, according to theteachings of Smith. The ‘anterior step’ in the focal plane which occursin transition zone 30 of lens 10 is indicated at 46 but, as previouslynoted, the shape or slope of this step is not optically controlled inthis example and its depiction is notional. Embodiments of the presentinvention realize an important improvement over Smith by obviating theneed to figure peripheral optical zone 24 of lens 10 to provideincreasing refractive power from the center to the periphery of theretina in general, or across peripheral optical zone 24 in particular.

FIG. 5 shows a number of light rays entering eye 14 from below throughlens 10, cornea 12 and pupil 22, the diameter of which is determined bythe iris 36. These rays notionally pass through a nodal point 48 withinthe natural lens of the eye, the natural lens not being depicted for thesake of clarity. Also for the sake of clarity, a similar set of raysentering the eye from above and from nasal and temporal sides are notdepicted since they will essentially duplicate those illustrated. It isassumed that an axial ray 50 will be coincident with both the visual andoptical axes of eye 12, that lens 10 is centered on cornea 12 so thatray 50 will be brought to focus on the fovea 52 of retina 34. Off-axisrays 54 passing obliquely through central portion 20 of lens 10 will besubstantially focused on central region 32 of retina, bringing distantobjects into sharp focus thereon, leaving near objects to be focused byaccommodation of the natural lens. Thus, by virtue of the prescribedrefractive power of central zone 20 of lens 10, virtually all rays fromdistant objects passing into the eye through central optical zone 20will be brought to sharp focus on central region 32 of retina to form animage as indicated by dotted line 55.

More oblique off-axis rays such as 56 that pass through transition zone30 of lens 10 might notionally be conceived to create anterior step 46of focal plane 42, but, as already indicated above, transition zone 30is not optically designed and ray 56 is likely to be dispersed in anunfocused manner within eye 12. However, here again, the purely notionalpath of such a ray is depicted by broken line 56 a. Peripheral ray 58,which is more oblique than ray 56 and much more oblique than off-axisray 54, will pass through peripheral optical zone 24 of lens 10 and bedirected close to the edge of iris 36 (i.e., close to the outside marginof pupil 22), by virtue of the greater refractive power of zone 24, bebrought to a focus at point 59 on peripheral focal plane 42 that ties infront of (anterior to) peripheral region 44 of retina 34 to provide thedesired inhibitory stimulus for eye growth. As will be seen from aninspection of FIG. 5, peripheral rays entering eye 12 at peripheralangles between rays 56 and 58 will be brought to focus in front ofretina 34 along focal plane 42, with rays that are less oblique beingbrought to focus further in front of retina 34 in a manner that providesa strong stimulus for the retardation of eye elongation.

The second example of the invention will now be described with referenceto the lens drawings of FIGS. 2A and 2B, the corresponding power graphof FIG. 4 and the corresponding eye diagram of FIG. 6. Since, as a briefinspection of these Figures will indicate, the first and second examplesshare many common features, the same reference numerals will be used forthe elements of the second example that have the same or a similarfunction to those of the first example, except that the prefix ‘1’ willbe added. Thus, 110 and 114 indicate the lens and the subject eye of thesecond example, while the central optical zone, transition zone andperipheral optical zone are respectively indicated by 120, 130 and 124.By indicating similar elements and functions in this way, thedescription of the second example can be usefully abbreviated.

The principal differences between the first and second examples lie inthe design of the transition zone 130 and peripheral zone 124 of lens110. As will be seen from the power curve of FIG. 4, that the diameterof central optical zone 120 is about 3.5 mm, indicating the normal pupildiameter 122 of eye 112 is about the same as that of eye 12 of the firstexample. However, the width of transition zone 130 of lens 100 of thesecond example is 1.25 mm so to allow some control over the opticaldesign of this zone. This means that annular peripheral zone 124 isnarrower in this example, having an inner diameter of about 6 mm butessentially the same outer diameter (about 8 mm) as zone 24 of lens 10.Despite narrower peripheral zone 124, the inner refractive power of zone124 is not only greater than that of zone 24 of lens 10 (2.5 D comparedwith 1.5 D relative to the power of the central zone) but it increasessignificantly outwardly toward carrier portion 126. This design isintended to enhance the stimulus that inhibits eye growth by increasingthe average amount by which peripheral focal plane 142 of eye 112 isshifted anteriorly.

As will be seen from FIGS. 2A, 2B and 6, transition zone 130 includes aprogressive focus zone 160 with a first blend zone 162 between it andthe central optical zone 120 and a second blend zone 164 between it andperipheral optical zone 124. As in the first example, blend zones 162and 164 are not intended to have an optical function but, rather tosimply form smooth curves between progressive zone 160 and the centraloptical zone 120 on the one side and between the progressive zone andthe peripheral optical zone 124 on the other. This allows for asubstantially linear increase of refractive power in progressive zone160 as indicated by portion 164 of the power curve of FIG. 4 and forcorresponding certainty about the path of rays such as 156 (now shown inan unbroken line) that pass through zone 160 to define the shape of step146 between the central and peripheral regions 132 and 142 of the focalplane of retina 134. Again, it is preferable that lens 110 has a rearsurface 116 that is shaped to fit comfortably on the cornea 112 of thepatient and that the desired levels of refractive power in centraloptical zone 120, progressive optical zone 160 and peripheral opticalzone 124 are obtained by figuring the front surface 118 of lens 110.

In the second example it is assumed that, upon examination, it is notonly found that eye 112 is myopic in that the focus for central visionlies in front of the retina 134 but it is determined that, in theperipheral region of the retina 144, the eye exhibits strong hyperopiain that the focus in this region is well behind the retina. Thus, eventhough the degree of central vision myopia may be the same as for eye 12of the first example requiring the same prescription to correct centralvision so that focus for distance is brought onto central region 132 ofretina 134, it is highly likely that myopia is more strongly progressivein eye 112 so a stronger prescription is required for peripheral visionin order to bring the focal plane 142 well in front of retina 134 inperipheral region 144. As before, paraxial rays such as 150 are assumedto follow the optical axis of eye 120 and to be brought to focus atfovea 152, oblique rays like 154 passing through central optical zone120 will be brought to focus on 134 to form a focal plane 155 on centralregion 132 of the retina to provide excellent distance vision, andoblique peripheral rays such as 158 that pass through peripheral opticalzone 124 will be brought to focus on focal plane 142 that is locatedanterior to the peripheral region 144 of the retina 134.

While the present invention has been described in detail with referenceto specific embodiments thereof, it will be apparent to one skilled inthe field that various changes, modifications and substitutions can bemade, and equivalents employed without departing from, and are intendedto be included within, the scope of the claims.

1-38. (canceled)
 39. A contact lens for application to a myopic eye, thecontact lens comprising: a central optical zone dimensioned to cover anarea from a central axis of the contact lens up to between plus or minus1 mm of said predefined pupil size, the central optical zone having asubstantially uniform central zone refractive power for correctingmyopia; and a peripheral optical zone disposed radially outward fromsaid central optical zone; the peripheral optical zone occupying atleast a portion of an annular zone defined by an inner diameter of 4.5mm and an outer diameter of 8 mm; wherein the contact lens is designatedfor application to a myopic eye with a predefined pupil size, theperipheral optical zone has a peripheral optical zone refractive powerthat is greater than the central optical zone refractive power by morethan 1 Diopter, and the peripheral optical zone refractive power coversa diameter differential of at least 2 mm.
 40. The contact lens of claim39, wherein the peripheral optical zone refractive power is betweenapproximately 2.5 Diopters and 8 Diopters greater than the centraloptical zone refractive power.
 41. The contact lens of claim 40, whereinthe predefined pupil size is approximately 3.5 mm in diameter and thecentral optical zone is approximately 3.5 mm in diameter.
 42. Thecontact lens of claim 39, further comprising: a transition zone betweenthe central optical zone and the peripheral optical zone, the transitionzone comprising a gradation of refractive power between the refractivepower of the central optical zone and the refractive power of theperipheral optical zone.
 43. The contact lens of claim 40, furthercomprising: a transition zone between the central optical zone and theperipheral optical zone, the transition zone comprising a gradation ofrefractive power between the refractive power of the central opticalzone and the refractive power of the peripheral optical zone.
 44. Thecontact lens of claim 39, wherein the predefined pupil size is based ona population average and the designation comprises the predefined pupilsize and a range of other pupil sizes.
 45. The contact lens of claim 44,wherein the population average is an average for young people.
 46. Thecontact lens of claim 39, wherein the central optical zone issubstantially circular in shape and the peripheral optical zone definesan annulus about the central optical zone.
 47. The contact lens of claim39, wherein the peripheral optical zone refractive power issubstantially uniform across the peripheral optical zone.
 48. Thecontact lens of claim 39, wherein the peripheral optical zone refractivepower substantially linearly increases with increasing diameter acrossthe peripheral optical zone.
 49. The contact lens of claim 39,designated for application to a myopic eye with a the predefined pupilsize and hyperopia in the periphery.
 50. The contact lens of claim 40,wherein the predefined pupil size is based on a population average andthe designation comprises the predefined pupil size and a range of otherpupil sizes
 51. The contact lens of claim 50, wherein the populationaverage is an average for young people.
 52. The contact lens of claim40, wherein the central optical zone is substantially circular in shapeand the peripheral optical zone defines an annulus about the centraloptical zone.
 53. The contact lens of claim 52, wherein the peripheraloptical zone refractive power is substantially uniform across theperipheral optical zone.
 54. The contact lens of claim 52, wherein theperipheral optical zone refractive power substantially linearlyincreases with increasing radius across the peripheral optical zone. 55.The contact lens of claim 40, wherein the contact lens is forapplication to a myopic eye with a specified pupil size and hyperopia inthe periphery.
 56. The contact lens of claim 41, wherein the diameterdifferential covered by the peripheral optical zone refractive power isabout 6.0 mm diameter to about 8.0 mm diameter.